In the midst of controversy over the Israeli prime minister's plans to address Congress next month, a researcher has won the release of a decades-old Defense Department report detailing the U.S. government's extensive help to Israel in that nation's development of a nuclear bomb.From looking at the actual report, unless I'm missing something, it doesn't say anything about US aiding Israel's nuclear weapons research. On the contrary: the report is meant to evaluate the progress of conventional and nuclear weapons research in selected countries to see how their technology could help the US:
The 1987 report, "Critical Technology Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations," compares the key Israeli facilities developing nuclear weapons to Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, the principal U.S. laboratories that developed the bomb for the United States.
The tightly held report notes that the Israelis are "developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs. That is, codes which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level."
The release comes after Grant Smith, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy filed filed a FOIA request last year and followed with a lawsuit in September seeking to compel release of the report.
A. PURPOSE OF THIS REPORTThe researchers were especially interested in technologies that would aid the US in its SDI ("Star Wars") program of the 1980s.
This report describes in scientific terms the technological details of basic research and development program thrusts in Israel and selected European allied nations with possible applications to U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) programs, both tactical and strategic. The report is organized to provide a comprehensive critical assessment of technologies relevant to the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) initiatives, Nunn Amendment programs and Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) Organization (SDIO) programs.
The report avoids an analysis of policy issues and problems arlsmg from technology transfer, security and SDI allied participation. It concentrates instead only on technology facets of allied programs and seeks to provide a benchmark against similar kinds of technology already in development in U.S. industry and government laboratories.
This report highlights technologies that could materially aid the DOD in drawing together the alliance in joint programs to provide synergism from technologies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Only 129 of the 386 pages were released, with anything not having to do with Israel (specifically, the programs of France, Italy, West Germany and "Other NATO Countries") still censored. The person who requested the report under the Freedom of Information Act agreed to that redaction, because his one and only purpose was to attack Israel
The RT.com and PressTV versions of the stories falsely highlight the supposed help the US gave Israel in building a hydrogen bomb.
Here is the key page in regards to Israel's nuclear capabilities in 1987:
The report clearly states that Israel, while on its way to having the ability to build hydrogen bombs, did not have the capability at the time of the report. And, again, I see nothing in the report that indicates (contrary to the bombastic statements of the people who sought to release this report) that the US aided Israel in any way on nuclear weapons technology.
It is curious that the report was released so soon before the controversial Netanyahu visit to Congress, something that is noted in the Courthouse News article as well.
(h/t David M)